Shallow dive gear

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Tiger Rag

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Dear All,

I need to change the propellers on a 42 foot motorboat but have just found out that the dive gear I was going to borrow is not available. Without sounding too stupid can any one suggest a viable alternative?

I was thinking or adapting a standard snorkel and extending the tube. Bearing in mind I only need to be less than a metre underwater would this work?

I should say that I am a fairly experienced diver and realise there are some risks involved but just cant think why this would not get me out of the fix.

Best regards,

Russell.
 
Scarboroughsloop said:
I would think that a 'snorkel' of the length needed would be too long and you would end up breathing your own exhaled air?
Click to expand...

That's true, though it can be mitigated by exhaling directly into the water either via a valve or simply through the nose. More problematic is that you're asking your lungs to expand outwards against a pressure differential of 100 millibars per metre of depth and most people's intercostal muscles are not up to this. Even hanging vertically in the water with a standard snorkel is noticeably harder work - any deeper and you can't breathe in at all.

I'd have thought an experienced diver would understand this intimately.

Pete
 
Both valid points thanks. I should clarify by "experienced" I mean I have done some diving before and can regulate buoyancy and am relaxed underwater but by no means an expert.

I thought there might be a blindingly obvious reason why I had not seen anyone do this but thought I would ask anyway.

Unless someone can think of an eloquent solution it looks like I am buggered.

Cheers,

Russell.
 
Tiger Rag said:
Dear All,

I need to change the propellers on a 42 foot motorboat but have just found out that the dive gear I was going to borrow is not available. Without sounding too stupid can any one suggest a viable alternative?

I was thinking or adapting a standard snorkel and extending the tube. Bearing in mind I only need to be less than a metre underwater would this work?

I should say that I am a fairly experienced diver and realise there are some risks involved but just cant think why this would not get me out of the fix.

Best regards,

Russell.
Click to expand...
Get RS Divers to do it?
Get the boat lifted on the sealift, if it needs a clean as well it might be worth it?
Buy your own gear?
You could look at Mini B type sets or used stuff.

I don't have a full set of dive kit at the moment, but if I did, I would probably make excuses and not lend it out to someone proposing to solo dive while not apparently understanding about snorkels in deep water.
Most divers are reluctant to encourage such things, even if they do them themselves.
Some are more diplomatic about it than me though.
Good luck with getting it sorted.
 
If only RS were available, trouble is the boat is in Nigeria so doubt Rueben will travel that far!!

This is also the other issue I would simply buy dive gear but I cant buy it out there and I cant ship it in time so buggered either way.

Cheers,

Russell.
 
Tiger Rag said:
If only RS were available, trouble is the boat is in Nigeria so doubt Rueben will travel that far!!

This is also the other issue I would simply buy dive gear but I cant buy it out there and I cant ship it in time so buggered either way.

Cheers,

Russell.
Click to expand...
Can't ship implies you don't even have bottles out there?
Is a mini b small enough to go hand luggage?
If you could fly out with an empty 3litre 'pony' bottle or two, could you get them pumped?
I suspect there are a lot of divers in Nigeria with the oil industry, it is a small world maybe a deal can be done?
How about hookah systems?
Basically a snorkel with a pump on the top, or an oil-less compressor feeding a regulator 2nd stage on a long hose?
Are you already out there?
 
Well, if you don't mind going proper redneck and it really is only a couple of feet under water...

As a kid I made a diving helmet out of a square bucket, with a plastic window stuck on the front and a hose fitting in the top. With my friend pumping on a bellows-style dinghy pump the helmet could be kept clear at the bottom of the shallow swimming pool we tried it in.

So far so good, but it was quite difficult to keep the bucket perfectly upright, so it tended to spill the air. The improved version dispensed with the bucket, and used the mouthpiece from one of those snorkels that have an outlet valve at the bottom for people who never learned to clear a normal one. No danger of overinflating the diver's lungs, as the excess air would shoot out of the valve. With a bit of practice this worked quite well.

Whether your dinghy pump will keep up with an adult's lungs as well as ours did with a child's, I don't know. But perhaps it's worth a try?

One word of warning - don't try to be clever and use a random mechanical pump. Some are ok, but others inject a fine mist of oil into the air and breathing that will do you no good at all.

Pete
 
There used to be the SWEBA - shallow water breathing apparatus - made specifically for jobs on boats like this, I don't know if it's still available, and it would be pricey ( around £400 I think but that was long ago ) for a one off job.

I hope if you do this task you'll at the very least have a chum on the boat or dinghy for safety.
 
Hi
With very little tidal movement cant you put her almost on the beach and change them in water you can stand in ?
 
Tiger Rag said:
Both valid points thanks. I should clarify by "experienced" I mean I have done some diving before and can regulate buoyancy and am relaxed underwater but by no means an expert.

I thought there might be a blindingly obvious reason why I had not seen anyone do this but thought I would ask anyway.

Unless someone can think of an eloquent solution it looks like I am buggered.

Cheers,

Russell.
Click to expand...

I think that it was a BBC programme that has shown those fishermen in the tropics diving with a long hose, several hoses for several men starting from a compressor on a boat and down like spaghetti. They had only these hoses, no valves or even masks.
 
Tiger Rag said:
Dear All,

I need to change the propellers on a 42 foot motorboat but have just found out that the dive gear I was going to borrow is not available. Without sounding too stupid can any one suggest a viable alternative?

I was thinking or adapting a standard snorkel and extending the tube. Bearing in mind I only need to be less than a metre underwater would this work?

I should say that I am a fairly experienced diver and realise there are some risks involved but just cant think why this would not get me out of the fix.

Best regards,

Russell.
Click to expand...

Double posting here & on The MoBo is not a good idea & is somewhat frowned upon too :encouragement:
 
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